Ancient Coin Hunter

I have an Alexandria tet of Galba which is very underweight by about 4-5 grams. Not sure how that happened but it might also be a water find. If not, heavily corroded and crystallized. The bottom line is that I am not sure. Galba, A.D. 68-69 Grade: VF+ light grey toning Catalog: Köln 233-4; Dattari (Savio) 310; K&G 17.14; Material: Billon Weight: 7.18 g Diameter: 24.00 mm Obverse: ΣEΡOΥI ΓAΛBA AΥTOK KAIΣ ΣEBA, Laureate head right; L B (date) before Reverse: EΛEΥ-ϑEΡI, Eleutheria standing left, resting elbow on column, holding wreath and scepter; to left, simpulum

Nice pick-up for the price!

Looks OK to me.

Well you are lucky then. Pretty much no one gives a whit about my old pieces of metal.

Fascinating I'll read it later.

Pretty Impressive, a haul of more than 2.3 million Chf's and over 44,000 bids. Thoughts?

I did have one lost sent in a plain old envelope. The coin was missing and I received an envelope with a tear in it. Probably was not good way for the sender to dispatch the shipment, just regular first class stamped mail. I am sorry to hear of your situation.

The short reign of Trebonianus Gallus and Volusianus was notable for the outbreak of a plague, which may have caused Hostilian's death, the invasion of the Sassanian Empire, and the raids of the Goths. Volusian was killed alongside his father in August 253 by their own soldiers, who were terrified of the forces of the usurper Aemilianus who were marching towards Rome. The forces of Valerian, who had stayed loyal to Gallus and Volusian, put an end to Aemilian's short reign. Volusian (251-253 A.D.) AE Sestertius, 26mm 16 grams, Rome mint Obverse: IMP CAE C VIB VOLVSIANO AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, typical squared off flan and some scratches since ancient times Reverse: FELICITAS PVBLICA S-C, Felicitas standing left, leaning on column, holding caduceus and sceptre. Reference: RIC 251a, Cohen 35, Sear 9786.

The Annia Faustina coin is superb @lrbguy. I don't think I've ever seen a coin of that personage.

I have not heard of "brushing" before. Technically what does that mean?

Wow @Orange Julius you have quite an eye for LRB culls. Nice work identifying it.

A bit of a different tack here, Vespasianus from Alexandria. The legions based in Egypt were instrumental in his success. Vespasian (A.D. 69-79) Billon Tetradrachm of Alexandria, Egypt. 26mm 11.98 grams Obverse: Laureate bust right, LB in front (Year 2, 69-70 A.D.) AYTOK KAIΣ ΣEBA OYVEΣΠAΣIANOY Reverse: Nike Advancing Left, holding wreath and palm branch Reference: RPC 2412, Koln 276, Milne 393, BMCGr 236, Emmet 205.2, Dattari 360

Nice write-up. I always found it impressive that Constantinian bronzes ended up in Sri Lanka. The Egyptian city of Berenike on the Red Sea coast was instrumental as a hub of this trade. Not much there today but the road that cut from the Nile Valley through the cliffs and Eastern desert is the same as today's two-lane highway connecting Coptos and its environs to Berenike. Coptos was later re-named Justinianopolis in Byzantine times. After the fall of Egypt in the 7th century the Arabs took over this trade.

I just realized I don't have a Crispus in my collection! Mentally looking through my LRB's confirms it. Will have to remedy that. Rather I do have Delmatius and the other Constantinian kids but no Crispus.....weird Nice examples, all.

Very interesting coin. I had not yet seen that type. It may represent CONCORDIA amongst the military branches, as the clasped hand coins often feature this legend. Nice find.